My story has two sliding doors moments, 3 key characters and five ‘firsts’.

 

The first sliding door moment. I wouldn’t have had a career in advertising had I not bunked off from Chelsea Art school one afternoon and switched on the radio at home whereupon I heard an interview with the two people who had set up an advertising course.  I called them up, dragged my portfolio along for an interview, got a place and left art school a year early.  Had I not left a year early I also wouldn’t have met my long-standing art director Charlie Wilson who I also ended up marrying.

 

The second sliding door moment: I worked in brand advertising agencies for the first 10 years of my career. One day I got fired for arguing with my creative director.  Had I not been fired I would not have taken the call from OgilvyOne, a direct and digital agency.  But I did take the call. I went along.  21 years later I was the CCO of the Ogilvy Group UK.

 

Sliding doors moments are part of a career.  So are pivotal people. I’ve had 3 key ones.  Dave Trott, Rory Sutherland and Annette King.

 

Dave taught me that it is better to be wrong and interesting than right and boring.  Rory taught me about generosity of spirit and behavioural science.  Annette taught me how to pitch, how to out-think the competition and the power of great leadership.  Each person made me the creative I am today.

 

The work that helped me take the big leaps forward were all firsts and really hard to do because no one had ever done them before.  

 

We built 88 memorial benches for CRUK, each one commemorating cancer survivors, and put them in the their favourite locations around the UK. They are still in place today, still raising money.  

 

We created the first ever app for the Wimbledon tennis championships to enhance the experience of visitors. It aggregated hints and tips from visitors for visitors in real time. It also incorporated a clean data feed of the live tennis matches so even if you didn’t have a ticket to centre court, you could still see the game.

 

We did a sampling campaign for a new ice cream brand that took the taste data and turned it into art works that we exhibited in a gallery to paying guests and the press.

 

We got a little boy and a little girl to point to BA planes flying overhead and say where they were going and how much a ticket would cost.

 

We taught a digital dog how to identify dog lovers and follow them around Westfield Stratford on giant screens to create new leads and boost adoption rates for Battersea Dogs Home.

 

How can my story be helpful to you on your journey?  

 

Set backs are often the enforced change you need to set a new course.   

 

You’ll find the truly great people always helping others.

 

If you want to make a big creative leap, stick your neck out and take risks.